WE DID IT!

Three and a half years after we publicly announced the formation of the APP-MCJ Guild, 97% of our members ratified a two-year collective bargaining agreement with Gannett.

Our contract, which came on the heels of a 95% strike vote by our members (along with our comrades in the Hudson Valley News Guild, who also won a contract), includes: 

  • Nearly $500,000 in new salary across the Asbury Park Press and MyCentralJersey newsrooms over two years. 

  • Salary minimums that will result in raises over 20% for a majority of our members upon ratification.

  • An average salary increase of $12,000 over two years, and increases as high as $24,000. 

  • General wage increases to combat inflation and prevent future wage stagnation

  • Beat back insurance premium hikes and cuts to the 401(k) match program for another year

  • Seniority protections, codified severance and recall list in the event of layoffs

  • Exclusive jurisdiction over our work, including strong guardrails dictating when managers, other newsrooms and AI can be used.

  • Just cause, no exceptions.  

This agreement is a testament to our members’ tenacity and solidarity. We never gave up our push for a fair contract, despite stonewalling at the bargaining table and every union-busting trick in the playbook. We never stopped fighting for each other. 

We hope this contract will serve as a launching pad for other unions across Gannett, including those negotiating successor deals, first contracts and, especially, those still organizing underground. 

Solidarity forever!

New York and New Jersey journalists authorize walkout at America’s largest newspaper chain

After three years of bargaining and pushed to action by Gannett’s refusal to agree to a fair contract, journalists at six newspapers in New York and New Jersey have had enough and voted to walk off the job. 

NEW YORK – Journalists represented by The NewsGuild of New York at top Gannett papers in New Jersey and New York have voted jointly in favor of authorizing a walkout.

The unionized newsrooms are fed up with Gannett’s flagrant disregard for labor law and refusal to agree to a fair contract after three long years of bargaining. The Hudson Valley NewsGuild, which represents editorial staff at The Journal News, Poughkeepsie Journal and Times Herald-Record, and the APP-MCJ Guild, which represents editorial staff at the Asbury Park Press and Courier News and The Home News Tribune, voted on Monday. With 90% of both unions turning out to vote, members approved the walkout by 95%.

The two unions – which represent nearly 75 journalists – have been bargaining separately for their first contracts with Gannett for more than three years. Both unions will be in bargaining sessions this week and there’s still time for Gannett to stop the walkout. 

"Our members have had enough," said APP-MCJ Guild acting unit chair Mike Davis, a reporter at the Asbury Park Press. "You can't have local news without local journalists, and we're done waiting for Gannett to acknowledge our value. Now we have to make Gannett learn that the hard way."Throughout bargaining, Gannett management has engaged in numerous anti-union practices that violate labor law, resulting in charges filed at the National Labor Relations Board: 

  • Overall bad-faith bargaining over contracts, including refusing to bargain and/or engaging in surface bargaining, 

  • Making unilateral changes to working conditions including unilaterally instituting artificial intelligence (AI) policies, 

  • Failing to provide and/or unreasonably delaying in providing requested information and/or refusing to answer questions about the Employer’s proposals, 

  • Discriminating against bargaining unit employees because of their union activities and sympathies

  • Unilaterally automating, subcontracting, and/or otherwise shifting work away from members, including through the use of AI.

And while Gannett violates the law, company reps at the bargaining table have doubled-down on only offering poverty-level wages for journalists. 

How bad is pay right now in Gannett?

  • The majority of members haven’t received a raise in nearly six years. 

  • One worker at the Courier News is earning barely above $39,000 after 34 years of service to the company. 

  • Many members earn an hourly rate that's far lower than their years of service, like one Asbury Park Press reporter who earns just $23.43 per hour after 29 years of service to Gannett (that’s $45,688.50 annually).

“Gannett keeps finding ways to slow down bargaining and delay fair wages. Meanwhile, our journalists are voting with their feet. We have lost talented reporters, photographers and producers who cannot wait for fair pay. That hurts the communities we serve,” said Nancy Cutler, acting unit chair of the Hudson Valley NewsGuild and a reporter covering people and policy. 

“Once again we see Gannett management prioritize company profit over the people who report local news to local communities,” said Susan DeCarava, president of The NewsGuild of NY. “Guild members devote their lives to covering these communities but cannot afford to live in them, thanks to Gannett moving dollars out of the newsroom and into executives’ pockets. We’re fighting to change that with a fair contract for all. What happens next is up to Gannett.”

Study of Pay Equity in Six Unionized Gannett Units in the Atlantic Region by the NewsGuild of New York

Published: Tuesday, October 18, 2022

Introduction

The newspaper is often called “a daily miracle,” a puzzle that, somehow, despite all the odds, comes together and lands on doorsteps or on newspaper websites without fail. But a pay study conducted by the Gannett Regional Union finds no miracle at six northeastern newspapers owned by Gannett, the nation’s largest newspaper chain.

Instead, there’s an ongoing disaster when it comes to what Gannett pays its female and non-white journalists who face a de facto pay ceiling and stagnant wages not seen by their white, male counterparts. 

Despite Gannett’s stated commitment to diversity, the analysis finds:

  • Gannett pays its non-white journalists an average of $11,500 less than their white counterparts at these papers. 

  • Senior female journalists make median full-time salaries that are $9,500 less than men the same age.

  • The median salary for white male journalists is more than $12,200 greater than that of minority women journalists.

If journalists of color stay at these Gannett papers, their pay plateaus. If female journalists stay, they can expect to be paid less than their male counterparts. 

In 2020, Gannett pledged to hire and promote more women and employees of color to reflect national demographics and the communities they serve. 

In 2021, Gannett reported its newsrooms were 58% male and 79% white. Our study of six newsrooms found 64% of employees were male and 77% were white. 

The company announced “inclusion, diversity and equity are core to our business,” and all employees should have “equal opportunities to thrive.” 

“(W)e are committed to … driving positive change. While this will, at times, mean addressing and combating systemic barriers and having uncomfortable conversations, we believe silence is not an option. We want to … become a leader not just in what we do, but who we are as a company,” CEO Mike Reed said.

Gannett claims it is a beacon for diversity in the workplace. Our numbers prove otherwise. The inequity is baked into how editors look at their workforce. At a bargaining session this summer, when the Guild set its demand – equal pay for equal work – a Gannett editor rolled her eyes and laughed out loud. That is the Gannett management culture.

Pay equity matters. It matters because it sets a culture of fairness across the company, a reasonable expectation that -- no matter whose byline or photo credit is attached – a job done will be paid at a fair and equal rate.

Purpose of Study 

This study was undertaken by the Gannett Regional Union, a coalition of six NewsGuild bargaining units representing journalists across New York and New Jersey. This includes four units that certified in 2021 – The Record Guild, the Atlantic DOT Guild, the Hudson Valley News Guild and the APP-MCJ Guild – as well as two legacy union shops, the Rochester Newspaper Guild and the Utica Newspaper Guild. Our nearly 200 members unionized, in part, due to low and inequitable pay across our newsrooms. This study is based on union and non-union employee data from the collective NewsGuild shops requested from Gannett in August 2022.     

Key Findings 

Gannett Regional Union’s findings were consistent with those of other NewsGuild-CWA shops that undertook similar reviews of union membership and corresponding salary information. On average, staffers who are women and minorities earn significantly less than their white, male counterparts. The problem becomes starkly worse among more senior journalists, where we see a significant drop off of both female journalists and journalists of color. The data points to the fact that while Gannett may be hiring a diverse workforce among its lowest paid employees – often college graduates or early career journalists – it is not meeting very basic needs to advance their careers within Gannett.

In essence, Gannett’s policies are creating a “churn and burn” situation, where managers treat talented and diverse but early career journalists as a disposable commodity rather than fostering a workplace where they see our newsrooms as a place to spend an extended portion of their career. Likewise, Gannett is either not invested in recruiting diverse, veteran journalists or has let its newsrooms falter to a point that veteran journalists no longer view them as a place to advance their careers.  

  • Non-white journalists make $11,500 less than their white counterparts. 

  • The median salary for white male journalists is more than $12,200 greater than that of minority women journalists.

  • White men make up 53% of Gannett’s workforce across the New York/New Jersey newsrooms that are the focus of this study.

  • Non-white, veteran journalists make more than $12,700 per year less than their white counterparts and are outnumbered by nearly 9 to 1. 

  • Median annual salaries for minority journalists at Gannett stagnate in the low $40,000 range through their 40s while their white counterparts continue to see pay increases.

  • Experienced female journalists make median, full-time salaries that are more than $9,500 less than men of the same age. The gender pay gap coincides with sharp declines in women participating in Gannett’s workforce.

  • Gannett’s female workforce starts experiencing gender pay gaps as early as Year 6. Women entering their mid-career years with Gannett are paid median, full-time salaries that are more than $8,300 less than their male counterparts with similar years of service. 

Methodology

This study was based on salary and demographic data acquired through a request for information to Gannett Co. Inc that was fulfilled on Aug. 16, 2022. The data included newsroom employees’ pay, age, gender, race, job title and years of service at Gannett. The Gannett Regional Union sought to analyze data of the newsroom staff it represents. The data provided by Gannett, however, included several employees who are not members of the Gannett Regional Union and were removed from analysis (Of note: Those non-union, non-managerial employees removed from the analysis only show further anecdotal evidence of the gender- and race-based pay discrepancies cited throughout this study that the Gannett Regional Union hopes to eliminate). 

The study included employees who work at unionized Gannett news sites largely across New York and New Jersey. The one exception is the Atlantic DOT Guild, which has staff members who work alongside newsrooms in those two states along with Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

The study focused on full-time employees. In most cases, part-time staff was excluded because the data included too few of them to maintain their anonymity. The data also included six employees who did not self-identify a race. They were also excluded for the same reason.

We used median pay instead of average to more accurately reflect the range of salaries in a workplace. The median is the midpoint between the higher paid half of employees and the lower paid half. Average, on the other hand, can obscure the middle range of salaries when an extreme high or extreme low salary swings the calculation.

We used annual pay without factoring overtime for both hourly and salaried employees. 

The number of employees represented by the Gannett Regional Union in each newsroom ranged from 77 to 9. The size of each newsroom should be taken into account. One employee’s pay and demographics can impact the analysis more in a smaller newsroom than in a larger one.

Employees in the study were overwhelmingly white and male. About 77% of employees were white, while 64% were men. Nearly 53% were white men. White men outnumber minority women by 5 to 1.

White men make up more than half of Gannett workforce, which is far less diverse than our communities 

Meanwhile, Gannett’s workforce of the six units that make up the Gannett Regional Union is far less diverse not only of the New York and New Jersey regions, but of the United States overall, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data.

 

Note: Six employees represented by Gannett Regional Union did not self-identify an ethnicity. This analysis includes both full and part-time employees.

Men outnumber women by about 2 to 1 in most newsroom units

Male employees outnumber women 127 to 72 across the six units that make up the Gannett Regional Union, a trend that carries largely across each individual unit. The only exception is Rochester where gender representation in the newsroom is equal. The gender gap within the Hudson Valley News Guild is nearly 3 to 1. 

Note: Analysis includes all 199 staffers represented by Gannett Regional Union.

Gannett pays its journalists of color more than $11,500 less than its white journalists

The median salary for minority journalists is $43,426 compared to $54,928 for white journalists. That’s a gap of $11,502 per year. The divide between white men and minority women is $12,267 per year. The gap ranges from $10,793 at The Record Guild to $1,004 at Utica Guild.

Note: Six employees represented by Gannett Regional Union did not self-identify an ethnicity.

Gannett’s gender pay gap average about $3,000 across New York and New Jersey

The median salary for men is $52,527 per year compared to $49,539 per year among members of the Gannett unions in New York and New Jersey. The gender pay gap, however, varies widely across the shops. Rochester fared the best where the median salary for women is $1,471 per year more than men. Meanwhile, women in the Hudson Valley News Guild are paid $8,288 per year less than their male counterparts. At The Record Guild, women are paid $4,614 per year less than men. 

Note: Six employees represented by Gannett Regional Union did not self-identify an ethnicity. Analysis does not include part-time employees.

Gannett has a severe lack of non-white older journalists as wages stagnate

Gannett does match national – but not New York or New Jersey – averages of diversity among its youngest staffers. Diversity numbers, however, begin to severely drop off as staffers age. An analysis of pay data indicates stagnant wages could be a factor as to why non-white journalists leave our newsrooms.

Median salaries are stagnant in the low $40,000 range for non-white journalists in their 20s, 30s and 40s, while white journalists continued to see their pay increase during this timeframe. The median salary jumps up about $10K for non-white journalists in their 50s, but by that time, these staffers face a nearly $10K pay gap compared to white coworkers. 

Impact of racial pay gaps: Few non-white journalists make it past a decade of service 

Gannett’s six unionized newsrooms in New York and New Jersey have only 11 non-white journalists who have more than a decade of service with the company. That compares to 94 white journalists who have made it past the 10-year mark. 

The median full-time salary for non-white journalists with more than a decade of experience at Gannett is $46,469 per year compared to $59,236 per year. It’s an annual pay gap of $12,767.

Experienced female journalists make $9,581 less than their male counterparts

U.S. Census data shows that 50.5% of the country are women. For New York, women make up 51.1% of the state’s population while women make up 50.8% of New Jersey’s population. Gannett only comes close to this standard among its youngest staffers. Only Rochester’s staff is evenly divided between these two genders. (Gannett did not provide data on employees who identify as nonbinary.) The staffing divide between men and women become more severe as female staffers get older and drop out of Gannett’s workforce.

This is also when Gannett’s female employees begin to see gender pay gaps that only get worse as they age. By the last years of veteran female journalists’ careers, their median salary is $9,581 less than the median for their male counterparts.

Gender pay gaps start occurring after women reach 5 years of service with Gannett

Women drop out of Gannett’s workforce as they start to approach mid-career. It’s not clear based on available data where they go.

It is clear, however, that female journalists earn a median salary that is $8,323 per year less than their male counterparts with similar years of service at Gannett.

No rhyme or reason to Gannett salaries

Gannett Regional Union wants to bring to its members a clear and consistent standard to compensation – something that is woefully lacking in Gannett’s pay policy.

Note: Chart includes 187 full-time members who self-identified their ethnicity. 

Who is included in this study?

The Gannett Regional Union is a collective of six different shops in the Atlantic region under the NewsGuild of New York Local 31003: 

Together we represent over 200 reporters, photographers, news producers and other staff at nearly a dozen local newspapers. Many of our shops are fighting for a first contract. All of us are united in our goal to better our newsrooms.

What We’re Fighting For

This report stems from Gannett reporters’ desire to establish equity in our newsrooms. That’s why we’re bringing proposals to the bargaining table to do just that.

Proposals such as tiered wage minimums and other benefits will ensure employees from diverse backgrounds stay at a newspaper, rather than move on to jobs with higher, more sustainable wages when their hard work and longevity is not rewarded by Gannett.

The company can claim diversity as one of its so-called pillars, but until measures to end this pay gap among women and people of color are in place, those claims are just empty words.

What We’re Demanding from Gannett

Adequate Hiring: Gannett has cut thousands of jobs across the country and allowed vacancies to remain unfilled, forcing employees to produce top-tier coverage with smaller and smaller staffs. Gannett must immediately increase hiring and commit to providing the resources that good local journalism requires.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: In-depth, accurate and balanced news coverage requires employees that have a diversity of views, cultures and backgrounds who can navigate the communities they serve. As Gannett hires, trains and promotes employees, it must seek to improve diversity, equity and inclusion throughout the company.

Ability to Advance in the Craft: Gannett must offer fair pay so that local journalists can live and thrive in the communities they serve. To retain talent, they must have job security, access to training and career development, healthful and safe working conditions and advancement opportunities. Workers must be afforded the benefits and paid-time off that support healthy work-life balance.

How You Can Support Us 

You can help us! Gannett journalists have been asking their employer for better pay and fully-staffed newsrooms. Sign this petition here to show your support.

Contact

If you have questions about this study, please reach out to Gannett Regional Union (gannettregionalunion@nyguild.org) or The NewsGuild of New York (communications@nyguild.org) 

WE WON!

Editorial workers at Gannett’s central N.J. publications win union vote

10/28/2021

NEW YORK — The editorial employees of the Gannett-owned publications in Central New Jersey and the Jersey Shore — Asbury Park Press (app.com), the Courier News, and the Home News Tribune (mycentraljersey.com) — won their union election to be represented by The NewsGuild of New York, TNG-CWA Local 31003 in a National Labor Relations Board vote that concluded today.

Members of the APP-MCJ Guild voted to form a union to save local journalism from corporate owners, building worker power in the industry by joining the wave of NewsGuild organizing across the country. APP-MCJ workers are advocating for greater diversity in hiring and coverage, and fighting for job security and greater protections against staff, wage, and benefit cuts. Gannett’s corporate ownership has gutted these newsrooms, reducing a staff that once numbered in the hundreds down to less than 50. These dedicated journalists are then tasked with covering the issues facing more than 3 million residents in Central Jersey and along the Jersey Shore. It’s time to return local journalism to the people.

The APP-MCJ Guild joins thousands of media professionals across the country who have organized with The NewsGuild-CWA to preserve and protect their local news outlets from centralized, corporate ownership. Workers at several Gannett-owned publications across the country have organized in recent years to fight for their newsrooms. The APP-MCJ Guild follows the Record Guild, the Atlantic DOT Guild, and the Hudson Valley News Guild as the fourth Gannett unit in the region to unionize with The NewsGuild of New York this year. 

The groundswell of organizing in Gannett’s Atlantic region this year includes:

May 7 —Workers at The Bergen Record, The New Jersey Herald, and The Daily Record voted in favor of joining The NewsGuild of New York. The unit represents 80 media workers at the three publications. Website: https://www.therecordguild.com/

August 11 — Workers at the Atlantic Digital Optimization Team (DOT) won a union election at the NLRB. The 21 staffers at The Atlantic DOT Guild work across a five-state region that comprises 37 websites in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. They announced they were forming a union with The NewsGuild of New York Local 31003 in early June.  Website: https://www.atlanticdotguild.org/

September 17 — Workers at The Journal News, Times Herald-Record, and Poughkeepsie Journal won their NLRB union election. The group represents 45 workers and includes the Poughkeepsie Journal, the oldest newspaper in New York State and the 2nd-oldest in the nation.They announced they were forming a union with The NewsGuild of New York Local 31003 in mid-July  Website: https://hudsonvalleynewsguild.org/

The NewsGuild of New York has filed two unfair practice charges against Gannett over union busting tactics across the four shops, after the company offered benefits in exchange for rejecting the union and created the impression that management was spying on workers' protected union activities. The charges also deal with multiple other violations of the National Labor Relations Act including failing to provide requested information needed for bargaining and attempting to bypass the union as the bargaining representative of the membership. The company has also put up legal obstacles to unionization by seeking to exclude four workers from the APP-MCJ Guild despite the same job titles being included in other Guild units.

“This is a great and historic day for the staff and readers of the Asbury Park Press, Courier News and the Home News Tribune. Unionizing these newspapers has been a long time coming. After decades of stagnant wages and brutal job losses, now we have the power to advocate for a better workplace, a better newsroom and, in turn, better journalism. We look forward to working with Gannett to make lasting improvements to our workplace and our industry, starting with the inclusion of our four colleagues the company has refused to acknowledge.” said Mike Davis, Reporter at Asbury Park Press. 

“I am incredibly proud to represent the workers at APP-MCJ Guild who have organized to improve their newsroom and to save local news for their families, their neighbors, and their communities,” said Susan DeCarava, President of The NewsGuild of New York. “I look forward to Gannett management coming to the table without delay so that we can begin negotiations for a first contract that will strengthen local news and lift standards across the industry for everyone.”

ABOUT THE NEWSGUILD OF NEW YORK

The NewsGuild of New York, Local 31003 of the Communications Workers of America, is a labor union representing nearly 4,000 media professionals and other employees at New York area news organizations, including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Thomson Reuters, The Nation, BuzzFeed News, TIME, PEOPLE, Wirecutter, and The Daily Beast. The NewsGuild of New York advocates for journalists to have a voice in the newsroom, for press freedom, for inclusive and diverse workplaces, and for just cause, no exceptions, for all media professionals.

OUR MISSION

The journalists of the Asbury Park Press, the Courier News and the Home News Tribune have formed a union.

It’s about time.

We have told your stories, spoken truth to power and amplified the voices of our most vulnerable communities for nearly 150 years. We are proud of our journalism and the change it has brought to Central Jersey and the Jersey Shore.

Now, we have unionized with the NewsGuild of New York in order to save it.

For over a decade, we have lived in fear for our livelihood as our corporate owner, Gannett, decimated our newsrooms with routine layoffs and buyouts, depriving our readers of decades of institutional knowledge and damaging our local journalism.

Our newsrooms have been gutted from a staff that once numbered in the hundreds down to a team of less than 50 journalists tasked with covering the issues facing more than 3 million residents in Central Jersey and along the Jersey Shore. Our colleagues have lost their jobs while on vacation, on disability and even while on company-mandated furlough. Reporters with decades of experience were forced to re-apply for their own jobs, while others took on greater responsibilities without a raise. The journalists who have survived these cuts often receive wages and benefits from Gannett that are not enough to make ends meet in one of the most expensive areas in the country, forcing talent young and old to other outlets or out of journalism entirely. We are offered health insurance plans with high deductibles and meager coverage, and are routinely sent into the field to cover crowded and potentially dangerous events with little to no personal protective equipment.

We have unionized to advocate for ourselves and to support each other, to fight for fairness and equity and demand that Gannett treat us with the dignity we deserve.

We have unionized to ensure that our voices are heard loud and clear, now more than ever.

We strive to tell the stories of all New Jerseyans, and this requires us to take a long, hard look at and acknowledge our own failures when it comes to diversity. You cannot tell the full story of a place without telling the stories of all of its people. We need those people in the room to make the changes necessary in our industry to redress social, racial and economic injustice.

We have unionized to advocate for greater diversity in hiring and our coverage, leaning into the hard conversations needed to ensure our newsrooms are actually an ally for women, people of color, LGBTQ+ and all other marginalized communities and ensure their stories will never go unheard.

There is no local news without local journalists. We have unionized to preserve our high quality local news coverage and to build a better, more stable future.

We are proud to join the wave of Gannett newsrooms organizing with the NewsGuild to be treated as valued and important employees. We care deeply about the importance of our journalism to our community.

Gannett can prove they care about local journalism, too, by voluntarily recognizing our union now and putting an end to their anti-union campaign of interrogation and lying to our members. However, we are not waiting for their lead.

There’s too much at stake.

Signed:

Alex Biese

Kayla Canne

Jerry Carino

Susanne Cervenka

Thomas P. Costello II

Kevin Davis

Mike Davis

Michael Diamond

Steve Edelson

Steven Falk

Nicolas Fernandes

Chris Jordan

Alex Gecan

Sarah Griesemer

Jenna Intersimone

Ilana Keller

Lauren Knego

Alexander Lewis

Olivia Liu

Danny LoGiudice

Susan Loyer

Cheryl Makin

Andrew Mendlowitz

Jean Mikle

Amanda Oglesby

Simeon Pincus

Ryan Ross

Suzanne Russell-Bing

Joe Strupp

Bradley Wadlow

David P. Willis

Why are we forming a union?

Here’s a few of our stories…

  • Alex Biese

    I’m joining the APP-MCJ Guild because, for too long, the powers that be have expected us to report on life in Central Jersey and the Jersey Shore while refusing to pay rank-and-file employees a living wage for this area. Across 16 years, I have lost track of all of the brilliantly talented journalists who have been laid off or forced to seek employment at other publications or in different industries. Due to this frequent loss of talent, the few remaining reporters are constantly directed to do more work for the same pay under the ever-present fear of being laid off ourselves. We are proud to be guardians of the Fourth Estate, and now we are demanding fair and equitable treatment in order to continue serving our readers.

  • Kayla Canne

    When I joined the Asbury Park Press last summer as a Report for America corps member, I was inspired. I’ve spent most of my reporting career listening to people tell me how journalism is dying. I’m still here only because I believe we can’t let it. I saw RFA as an opportunity to reinvest in local journalism and fight for its future. Little did I know at the time that I’d be met with a salary that makes it nearly impractical to live here. Ironically enough, I was brought on to cover the severe affordable housing crisis in New Jersey. In my early days of research I realized I qualify for all of the assistance programs I’m now writing about. This isn’t sustainable. If we want to protect local journalism — if we want to invest in local journalism — we must first protect and invest in ourselves. I am incredibly proud to stand with my colleagues and fight for our worth, so we can make sure we’re here to continue sharing the stories that matter in all the years to come.

  • Susanne Cervenka

    I am tired of watching my female colleagues walk out the door because management won’t listen to their ideas or appreciate their talents.

    I am tired of being asked to do more work with no compensation while the CFO gets a $600K bonus for furloughing and laying us off.

    I am tired of my colleagues and myself having to work second jobs to live in the areas we cover.

    The APP-MCJ Guild gives us an opportunity to refocus at a good rate on the local journalism our community deserves. That’s why I am proud to be a founding member.

  • Kevin Davis

    Teachers are in unions. Firefighters are in unions. Police officers are in unions. Government workers are in unions. Transportation workers are in unions. Journalists live in the same communities. We perform a vital service to the community. We want the same standard of living. We deserve a living wage.

    Now, more than ever, the stress is higher. We are taking on more responsibilities and duties with no increase in compensation. We love our jobs and want to continue serving the public — our readers — for generations to come. With the union, that will become reality.

  • Mike Davis

    I’m unionizing with the APP-MCJ Guild because I want my coworkers to feel emboldened by the work they do, not threatened by the whims of corporate executives in Virginia. I want my hometown newspapers to thrive, to be a place where journalists come not just because they’re thankful to have a job, but because they know of our reputation. Gannett spent decades making unilateral decisions that left our newspapers — and our people — in shreds.

    Now, we’ll have our say

  • Michael Diamond

    I’m joining the APP-MCJ Guild because it’s time for our company to reinvest in the newsroom. For the past 20 years, I’ve been privileged to work with talented journalists who covered 9-11, Sandy and now COVID. And I’ve seen lots of them leave either through layoffs or buyouts, or because they couldn’t afford to stay. Waiting for that strategy to change seems like a bad idea. I don’t want to be part of the last generation that made a career in local journalism. It’s time to try something else.

  • Ilana Keller

    Journalism is, at its heart, storytelling —amplifying people’s voices, telling their stories and using them to understand and improve the world around us. But when journalists tell our own stories, they’re usually similar — not having the resources to do the best work we can, struggling to make ends meet, not being positioned properly to best serve our communities and often looking at structures that don’t represent us or those communities. That’s why our story needs a new chapter: the APP-MCJ Guild.

  • Alex Lewis

    I'm joining to stand in solidarity with my colleagues for a fair wage and benefits, which we deserve for the work we put in. I'm tired of taking on additional responsibilities, growing my skills and buying my own equipment without any sort of compensation. I'm sick of my colleagues leaving or retiring and having to fill the gap by doing more and more work for no extra pay. I'm tired of working an extra 80 hours a week at other jobs just to make ends meet and still be anxious and stressed about retirement. The APP-MCJ Guild will let us focus on the things that matter, doing our jobs to bring excellent journalism to the public, who deserve the best we have to offer. I am extremely proud to be one of the founding members of this guild.

  • Danny LoGiudice

    I’m joining the APP-MCJ Guild because I want to see this talented and dedicated staff of journalists finally receive the compensation we all deserve, compensation that doesn’t make it impossible to live in the community we serve. I’m tired of seeing the mistreatment of my colleagues at the hands of Gannett. I’m tired of seeing the constant cuts and the increased responsibilities with no subsequent raise. We’ve voiced our concerns, but they have fallen upon Gannett’s deaf ears. We’re not asking for much. Just basic decency.

  • Cheryl Makin

    I truly believe we should not be writing about oppression, lack of equity and unfair work practices by corporations while suffering from it ourselves. Our basic human needs – food and housing – should not be competing stressors because of lack of a living wage. We should not be living a life based on the daily mantra “be grateful you have a job,” repeated and re-enforced by upper management. We should be working in an environment of professional respect – shown through quality benefits, policies and salaries. We should be heard. We should be believed. We should be respected.

  • Jean Mikle

    I am joining my colleagues in the APP-MCJ Guild because I’m tired of watching so many extremely talented journalists leave because they are not paid enough to stay in this area. Those who do try to stay often have to work second jobs in order to afford to live here. Local news is a vital part of the fabric of the communities we serve, and we are very proud of the essential work that we do. But for far too long we have been asked to take on more work for the same pay, while living under the constant threat of layoffs for the past 13 years. I chose to make my career covering local news, and I want others to be able to make that same choice. It’s time to try something new, and for us to have a seat at the table.

  • Amanda Oglesby

    I’m joining the APP-MCJ Guild because I have not received a raise in years, and because I know talented people need fair compensation for long and late hours, for working holidays and weekends, for being ready to drop everything and respond to cover breaking news and disasters. We have covered superstorms, forest fires, civil unrest and a deadly pandemic as the cost of living in New Jersey has outpaced our pay. While we put our lives at risk to perform our jobs, the corporation canceled 401(k) contributions and froze salaries. That’s why I am joining our union.

  • Ryan Ross

    I’m joining the APP-MCJ Guild to help secure fair and equitable treatment for our talented staff. Gannett’s constant cuts have forced far too many talented journalists out the door, causing our newsrooms and the communities we serve to suffer. We are routinely asked to take on more responsibilities and duties while compensation remains stagnant, an issue that evidently evades Gannett executives, who too often reward themselves with bonuses and raises. We are not asking for anything we don’t deserve. We are simply joining together to ensure we always have a seat at the table and a say in the futures of our careers. Gannett’s constant cuts and policy of doing more with less left us no choice but to form this union.

  • Joe Strupp

    I joined my first News Guild 25 years ago. It’s simple. We provide a public service like police, firefighters and teachers, each of them have unions. We are a creative industry, like actors, authors and musicians, and each of them have unions; and we are professionals at our craft like athletes, electricians and plumbers, who each have unions as well. But unlike them, our profession is the only one with constitutional protection. That deserves job protection and fair treatment, too.  

  • Brad Wadlow

    Why am I joining a union? My disillusionment began after the last round of furloughs. I was told I was exempt because I made under the cutoff salary range. Many people would think that would be good news, except I have been with the company for more than 31 years, and I made under the cutoff range? I have given sweat and tears to Gannett, and even blood if you count a paper cut or two. I am joining the union to make sure that we're all on an equal playing field.

  • David Willis

    I support my colleagues in our collective pursuit of pay equity, a strong united newsroom, and a say in our future. Local news is the bedrock of our communities. After years of cuts and diminishing resources, it’s time to try something new at the Asbury Park Press, the Courier News and the Home News Tribune.

What they’re saying about the APP-MCJ Guild…

 

“Building an economy that works for everyone means allowing workers to organize. We stand by the APP-MCJ Guild and call on Gannett to voluntarily recognize the union to ensure a stronger, more equitable workspace.” — New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy

 

“Union representation will provide these newspaper employees with the opportunity to negotiate for better pay, benefits and job security, and will also help to give greater voice to the communities that rely upon their reporting. ” — New Jersey Sen. Vin Gopal (11th District)

“Union-busting hinders the free exercise of workers’ rights, is simply undemocratic, and has no place in New Jersey where there is a proud and long history of unionized labor.” —New Jersey Assembly members Joann Downy & Eric Houghtaling (11th District)

 

“I support my former co-workers’ campaign because they are entitled to a workplace that is inclusive and fair; one that provides equal opportunities for growth for all employees. They deserve just cause and that their employment status should not be subject to the capricious whims of management.

Management at Asbury Park Press, Courier News and Home News Tribune should be transparent with their employees, and should hold themselves to the same standards to which they hold the institutions they cover.”

— Nick Muscavage, Law360 (former reporter, Courier News and Home News Tribune)

 

“I stand proudly with my former colleagues who are fighting for a better, more equitable newsroom. For years, reporters at the Asbury Park Press, Courier News and Home News Tribune have fearlessly been a watchdog in the community despite constantly being asked to take on more and more responsibilities. They deserve to have a say in the direction of the newsroom and a seat at the table.

"A stronger, fairer newsroom will only strengthen local journalism — and keep it sustainable.”

— Karen YI, WNYC (former reporter, Asbury Park Press)

 
 

“ The Asbury Park Press journalists are having a ‘Norma Rae’ moment! I grew up with local news provided by local writers who came from within the community and I hope future New Jersey generations can enjoy the same. Congrats to Alex Biese and all the wordsmiths for knowing their worth!”

— Kevin Smith, filmmaker and Highlands native

 
 

“In these turbulent times, journalists need a seat at the table and to have their voices heard. 

"The New Jersey Society of Professional Journalists (NJ-SPJ) supports the right of the editorial staffs at the Asbury Park Press, the Home News Tribune and the Courier News to unionize, and we encourage Gannett management to recognize their union and to bargain in good faith. (The bargaining unit is known as the APP-MCJ Guild.) 

Professional journalism and local news coverage suffers when financial objectives are prioritized ahead of local coverage and maintaining the quality of a publication’s news content.  

This unionizing effort is not just about greater protections, equal pay and diversity but also about protecting journalism as a profession and as a public good for our communities.” — New Jersey Society of Professional Journalists

Let’s talk about union-busting at Gannett.

We believe a strong union is in our best interests and is good for journalism, but Gannett has already begun its union-busting campaign trying to convince us otherwise. Without a real argument for why the APP-MCJ GUILD should not unite, the company has to spin stories of how unionizing brings a “third party” to the workplace.

We’ve heard it all before.

Companies like Gannett always trot out the same tired tactics when trying to stop their employees from exercising their right to form a union. It’s called the Union-Busting Playbook — sorry, “union avoidance” playbook.

Let’s break it down.

 

“The union will…”

 

“Give us another chance!”

 

“Puh-puh-puh please don’t do this to us…”

 
 

The Union-Busting Playbook relies on half-truths and misinformation. To scare off support, companies try to paint unions as shadowy groups of outsiders who are only in it for themselves. The arguments are cut-and-paste:

“The union will make decisions for you.”

“The union will impose rigid work rules making it impossible for managers to help out when you’re swamped.” 

“The union will cause divisions in the workplace.”

None of that is true. 

In truth, “the” union is US, a diverse group of journalists with a broad range of experience and backgrounds. Our membership includes veterans and recent hires. It was built by us, for us — to represent us.

 

Notice a lot of attention from your supervisors lately? Us, too.

In response to organizing, companies typically try to buy workers’ silence by lavishing more attention on them or offering other incentives.

To that, we have two responses: 

  1. Too little, too late.

  2. If this is what organizing has caused already, imagine what victories await.

 

Managers will often try to personalize the union drive, acting as though workers’ desire to organize is a personal attack on a specific manager or group of managers. They will try to divert attention from the real issues at hand to focus people on the emotional nature of their personal relationships. 

They do this by following the script: 

  • Managers telling workers they’re “hurt” that the workers are organizing.

  • Implying that a popular manager would be fired if the union was voted in 

  • Managers sending personalized hand-written notes to each worker 

  • Managers getting a few workers to campaign against the union 

 

We won’t be fooled by these tired attempts to distract us because we’re committed to making real, lasting changes that will benefit us, our profession and the communities we serve. 

We are the APP-MCJ GUILD — and we’re here to stay.